REME Target Rifle: Precision Rifle Shooting Introduction Day

REME Sport

REME Target Rifle: Precision Rifle Shooting Introduction Day

Scribe: Maj James Sewell

Intro and Background

On the 13 August 2022, members of the REME took part in the Corps first Precision Rifle Introduction Day to introduce REME Officers and Soldiers to a relatively new shooting discipline within the UK. Precision Rifle Shooting (PRS) is an extremely popular shooting discipline which originated in the United States and has rapidly grown across Europe and the world. Today, there are two main organisations offering access to the discipline within the UK. These are the Great Britain Precision Rifle Association (GBPRA) and the Precision Rifle Series UK. The former is a part of the International Precision Rifle Federation (IPRF) which recently hosted the very first World Championships in France. Whist the latter, is a franchise of the extremely popular Precision Rifle Series league in the USA.

What is PRS?

A typical 1-day PRS competition consists of 8 to 10 “Stages”, each stage has a unique setup and typically requires competitors to engage multiple targets at ranges of 200 – 800m, with 8 – 12 rounds, from multiple positions in 90 - 120 seconds. The typical target is a metal gong, 2 Minutes of Angle (MOA) in size; Approx. 4 inches at 200m. The discipline requires a thorough understanding of rifle ballistics, wind judgement, application of marksmanship principles as well as rapid target identification and acquisition. It has an almost unprecedented crossover with the skills we require all serving soldiers to possess, and is extremely satisfying when you receive instant feedback from noise of a long-range impact onto a metal gong.

The REME introduction day was run as part of a PRS UK training weekend aimed at introducing new shooters to the sport. The day

Rifle Kraft Challenge, not bad results for a first attempt A view from the firing point used to chronograph and check bullet drop, looking out on the targets positioned along the base of the coal slag

began with a quick check zero for all shooters, followed by an opportunity to undertake a “Kraft Challenge” a simple 12 round drill to identify shooters variation in positional shooting at 100m. Aimed at helping improve fundamentals and or compensate for shooter habits. The drill consists of 3 rounds from prone, seated, kneeling and standing positions onto four different paper targets.

During the afternoon session participants were allowed to “stretch their legs” by moving back to the 600m firing point. Here they used chronographs to determine their average bullet speed, before using ballistic applications to process and understand their bullet drop over various distances. A quick check of environmental conditions, especially wind, allowed the shooters to confirm their calculated bullet drop and were soon engaging 10 inch targets at 550m. Throughout, the REME shooters were using personal rifles and factory ammunition (designed for deer

Cpl Mark Jones enjoying the luxury of a custom built 6mm Bench Rest (6BR) PRS rifle Maj James Sewell shooting a 6.5mm Custom Creedmoor during one of the more unique stages

Although not directly linked to the REME introduction day, the August 2022 IPRF World Championships are worth a mention due it and the wider military success. Of note, the Military and Law Enforcement Open Category team GB team secured third place overall with some outstanding individual performances; Cpl Jack Crawford (RM) narrowly lost out on the gold medal in the final stage of the competition but proudly took the silver ahead of a serving RAF officer who finished in the bronze medal position. Notably, no regular Army representation took part – something REME shooting hope to change for the 2024 IPRF World Championships in South Africa.

How to get involved

The 2022/23 season will commence this winter. REME shooting are hoping to compete throughout the season over the 7 individual PRS UK league matches and enter a team into the GBPRA team competition – but to be successful we need enthusiastic shooters. As this is the first full season that we will be attempting to field a team, there is no expectation, other than to build experience and maybe just maybe we will see a serving REME Soldier or Officer represent us at the 2024 World Championships. If you are interested in taking part contact Maj J Sewell (SO2 Plans, RHQ REME) for more info.

stalking), which for this type of shooting does make life a little more challenging! Small inconsistencies in the ammunition, as we all know are amplified over distance, which can be incredibly frustrating when in once instance you connect but miss on the next, despite a very stable shooting position! All the shooters did extremely well in the circumstances and thoroughly enjoyed the impacts that were achieved.

During the weekend, the REME representatives were also able to shoot custom built competition rifles. Giving them a feel for the realistic weight and extreme accuracy that is achieved with a purpose built long range rifle. This enabled them to make consistent impacts on multiple targets. With confidence building, we were able to start to run some basic PRS type stages giving a realistic feel for the challenging nature of the discipline. It is amazing how quickly 90 or 120 seconds disappears when you are moving between and building a firing position, locating targets, dialling bullet drop, judging and holding for wind and trying to remember to apply the fundamental shooting principles we have had engrained into us – but never truly practice enough!

Pte Watkins (4Bn PWRR), Cpl Crawford (47 Cdo, RM) and Ft Lt Owens (DES, RAF) GB MilEO team that finished 3rd in the 2022 World Championships